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. 2025 May 9:5:1589903.
doi: 10.3389/fnume.2025.1589903. eCollection 2025.

The role of FAPI PET/CT in patients with lymphoma: a systematic review

Natale Quartuccio  1 , Stefania Nicolosi  1 , Sabina Pulizzi  1 , Dante D'Oppido  1 , Salvatore Ialuna  1
Affiliations

The role of FAPI PET/CT in patients with lymphoma: a systematic review

Natale Quartuccio et al. Front Nucl Med. .

Abstract

Introduction: Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET/CT is typically the reference imaging method for assessing and tracking lymphomas. However, fibroblast activation protein inhibitor (FAPI) PET is being explored as a potentially useful option, especially when Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) scans do not show clear results.

Methods: For this systematic review, two researchers searched PubMed/MEDLINE and Cochrane CENTRAL for studies on FAPI PET/CT in lymphoma patients.

Results: The literature search initially retrieved 249 articles. After removing duplicates and screening titles and abstracts, and full text, there was a final selection of 15 articles (3 original studies and 12 case reports), encompassing a total of 270 patients. The three original studies were judged to have a low risk of bias according to the QUADAS-2 criteria. The systematic review reveals that FAPI PET/CT exhibits lower diagnostic sensitivity than [18F]FDG PET/CT in lymphomas characterized by low FAP expression. Nevertheless, FAPI PET/CT retains potential as a complementary imaging modality.

Discussion: [18F]FDG PET/CT remains the gold standard in lymphoma imaging, but FAPI PET/CT can potentially provide supplementary information regarding the molecular characteristics of lymphomas. FAPI PET/CT may have prognostic and therapeutic implications. In particular, it could help identify lymphoma subgroups with distinct stromal environments, potentially serving as a prognostic biomarker. Further large-scale prospective studies are warranted to validate its role in lymphoma management.

Keywords: DLBCL; FAPI; FDG; NHL; lymphoma; positron emission tomography; systematic review.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision.

Figures

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Figure 1
Flow-chart of the literature search.
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